Christo and Jeanne Claude - L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped – Paris 1961 - 2021

In auction: Exclusive "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped - Paris 1961-2021" Framed Art Card with Original Wrapping Material (Blue polypropylene fibers with pulverized aluminum fabric)

Dive into the heart of Parisian art history with this one-of-a-kind piece, "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped - Paris 1961-2021". This exquisite lot features a professionally framed art card accompanied by an authentic piece of the original special designed wrapping material used by the renowned artists Christo and Jeanne Claude.

Highlights:
• Artwork: "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped - Paris 1961-2021"
• Frame Dimensions: 27,00 cm x 26.00 cm x 4.00 cm
• Art Card Size: 16,80 cm x 12.70 cm
• Original Wrapping Material Size: 6.00 cm x 3.20 cm, made of blue polypropylene fibers with pulverized aluminum fabric, capturing the essence of this monumental art project.
• Condition: Excellent. This piece has been kept in pristine condition, ensuring it remains a timeless treasure.
• Framing: Professionally framed with protective glass to preserve its beauty and integrity. This is not your average frame; it's crafted with attention to detail and quality, ensuring the artwork and fabric piece are displayed in their full glory.
• Packaging & Shipping: Will be carefully packaged to ensure it arrives in perfect condition. Sent by registered mail with track and trace options (GLS, UPS, BRT or DHL), giving you peace of mind throughout its journey.

Don't miss the opportunity to own a piece of art history. This framed art card and original wrapping material from "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" offer not just a visually stunning piece for your collection, but also a fragment of the monumental project that captivated Paris and the world from 1961 to 2021.
Place your bid now and become the custodian of a piece of art that bridges over six decades of artistic innovation and expression.
L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, a temporary artwork for Paris, was on view for 16 days from Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021. The project was realized in partnership with the Center des Monuments Nationaux and in coordination with the City of Paris. It also received the support of the Center Pompidou. The Arc de Triomphe was wrapped in 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue, and with 3,000 meters of red rope.
In 1961, three years after they met in Paris, Christo and Jeanne-Claude began creating works of art in public spaces. One of their projects was to wrap a public building. When he arrived in Paris, Christo rented a small room near the Arc de Triomphe and had been attracted by the monument ever since. In 1962, he made a photomontage of the Arc de Triomphe wrapped, seen from the Avenue Foch and, in 1988, a collage. 60 years later, the project was finally materialised.
Per Christo's wishes, L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped was completed by his team after his death.

An exceptional opportunity to acquire an authentic artwork by Christo and Jeanne Claude (also known in different periods as Cristo, Chrito, Javacheff), a rare limited edition offset, book, framed, or lithograph print that belongs to the same visionary current of monumental wrapped interventions. This work evokes the artistic language that resonates with the spirit of Andy Warhol pop art, the provocations of Banksy, Invader, Cattelan, Robert Indiana, Damien Hirst, Mario Schifano, Lodola, and even contemporary Street Art like bordalo, aerosol, fin dac, Whatshisname and monopoly.

Christo and Jeanne Claude’s career spans extraordinary projects: from the London Mastaba floating on the Serpentine, to The Floating Piers on Lake Iseo (lago, Italy, Italia, near Como), where saffron colored panels invited the public to walk on water; from the dramatic wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin to the luminous fabric gates in New York’s Central Park among the trees. Their legacy also includes The Pont Neuf in Paris, the majestic Umbrellas in both Japan (Ibaraki, Yellow) and California (Los Angeles, Tejon Pass), the legendary Running Fence across landscapes, oceanfront Walk Ways, and ambitious concepts like Over the River (Arkansas, Rio Grande, New Mexico). Earlier gestures included the Wall of Oil Barrels, interventions in Rue Visconti in 1962, and the playful Store Front Project with a purple store front in Rome.

Other celebrated achievements are the pink Surrounded Islands in Miami’s Biscayne Bay, Florida, the monumental Mastaba project in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the studies in the desert of Liwa, and site-specific works in Coast Sydney, Bern Kunsthalle, Kassel (Documentation IV), Fondation Beyeler in Basel, and of course the historic Arc de Triomphe wrapping in Paris, a silvery vision shaped by the blue ropes and recyclable polypropylene fabric. Italian and Roman settings resonate too: Duomo, Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, Villa Borghese, Veneto, all bearing witness to ephemeral transformations.

Christo’s materials and techniques became signatures: wrap, wrapped, wrapping with polyethylene, polypropylene, woven polyester, heavy woven white nylon, aluminum, rope, twine, steel cable. Early explorations included playful packages—“Paket, Empaquetage”—objects like a wheelbarrow, cubicmeter, or everyday bottles and cans, transformed into poetic gestures. Strong elements like oil, iron, curtain revealed his fascination with density and monumentality. Documentation and collaboration often involved figures such as Michael S. Cullen and Roland Specker, guardians of memory and narrative.
This artwork, held in prestigious institutions such as MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York), Center Pompidou (France), and celebrated in exhibitions across Rome, Paris, Berlin, Bristol, Swiss museums, German collections, and sites in Usa, Central Park, Colorado, Valley Curtain, Swatch, Rifle, Aspen, San Francisco on the Pacific Ocean, Tokyo, Australia, California, and the United States (Missouri, Kansas, Jacob Loose), belongs to a global legacy of monumental transformation.
Brand desig”: Vitra, Knoll, Herman Miller, USM Haller, Louis Poulsen, HAY, Iittala, Thonet, Minotti
Designer/architetti: Arne Jacobsen, Aalto, Panton, Saarinen, Castiglioni, Mangiorotti, De Lucchi, Bouroullec, Rams, Noguchi

As an object, this piece is also a luxury treasure: it dialogues not only with the world of fine art but with the culture of design (Kartell, Eames, Artifort, Flos, bearbrick), high fashion (Prada, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Fendi, Gucci, YSL, Saint Laurean, Hermès), watches (Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe Nautilus, Audemars Piguet, Submariner, GMT, Richard Mille, C215), and even the refined aura of Porsche and Ferrari—true works of mechanical art. References to pop icons such as Spider-Man, Asterix, Tintin further place Christo’s art in a living cultural dialogue.

Rare, collectible, and poetic, this signed edition represents not only an artwork but a gift (a perfect Xmas / Christmas Gift) of immense cultural resonance—an invitation to bring into one’s collection a piece of history shaped by fabric, light, and vision. It is art, it is documentation, it is lux, lusso, luxury, fabric lux: a vestibule into the extraordinary imagination of Christo and Jeanne Claude.
In this wider cultural landscape, Christo and Jeanne Claude’s poetics resonate with the energy of a new generation of artists who, like Matt Gondek, Juce Gace, Suketchi, Add fuel or Vhils, carve and deconstruct the urban skin of our cities, while JonOne, Swoon, Munday, OG slick, fake, pichiavo (or pichi avo) or Pantone transform color and gesture into vibrant urban stories. The irreverent language of D*Face, Blek le Rat, Mr. Brainwash or Chevrier keeps alive the provocations that once shook the art world, just as Séraiva, Seth and Snik Martin Whatson, Faccincani, Aubertin and Kostabi continue to blur the boundaries between tradition and experiment. Banksy’s interventions — from the Walled Off Hotel in Palestine to the Di Faced Tenner, Peckham Rock, Wall and Piece, the Love Welcome Mat and the biting irony of Weapons of Mass Distraction — extend the same tension between playfulness and critique that animated Christo’s monumental wrappings. Curators like Steve Lazarides, projects such as Crude Oils or Postcards, iconic figures like the Companion Obama or Marianne, and ephemeral universes like Dismaland in Weston-super-Mare or Cut & Run in Glasgow, all feed a narrative where art becomes both spectacle and statement. Even fashion, design and pop culture — from Balenciaga and Chanel to Disney, Liechtenstein and Virgil Abloh — become part of this conversation, proving that the fabric of contemporary imagination is woven across disciplines, borders, and generations.
Falco, Freeny, Art Vladi, borondo, XTC, britto, silkscreen, Hayden Kays, Jeff Aerosol, Thun, Natuzzi, Seen
Christo and Jeanne-Claude were visionaries whose monumental projects opened unexpected dialogues across the worlds of art, design, and culture. Their practice resonated with the rebellious energy of Pure Evil and Cope2, the playful aesthetics of Atari, Shrigley, and Dillon Boy, and the poetic interventions of JR, Findac, Icy & Sot, El Pez, Hopper, and Mesnager. Echoes of Lagasse, James Rizzi, and Angel Ortiz can be felt in their vibrant approach, just as the dotted universes of Yayoi Kusama, the futuristic gestures of Futura2000, and the surreal dreamscapes of Bruno Bani, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí aligned with their vision of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Their spirit was equally in tune with design and fashion. They admired the sleek lines of Alessi, Armani, and Apple, while their daring creativity recalled the boldness of Basquiat and the elegance of Bentley, Breitling, Cartier, Chopard, and Cavalli. The radical experiments of Daniel Arsham, Enzo Mari, and Gio Ponti paralleled their own, while the playful energy of Hot Wheels, Imbue, or even the cinematic glamour of James Bond brought their art into dialogue with popular icons. Jason Freeny’s deconstructed figures, Jordan’s timeless symbols, Liechtenstein’s pop language, the universes of Pikachu and Charizard, Mondriaan’s geometry, and the collectible culture of Medicom further reveal the breadth of their connections (arsham).
Drawing on a lineage that runs from Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, Dalí, and Rembrandt to Miró, Hockney, Ruscha, Ai Weiwei, Kapoor, Soulages, Noguchi, Le Corbusier, and Prouvé, Christo and Jeanne-Claude forged a language entirely their own.
Always curious about new forms, Christo and Jeanne-Claude embraced the irreverence of Mr Doodle, the craftsmanship of Montblanc, and the global impact of Nike, Nintendo, and Off-White. Their work shared affinities with Philippe Starck’s visionary design, Supreme’s street energy, Stik’s minimalist figures, and the playful imagination of Seletti, Stilnovo, and Yoshitomo Nara. Together, these affinities show how Christo and Jeanne-Claude were never isolated, but part of a vibrant cultural network where high art and everyday icons converged.

Please note that it is possible to issue a regular sales invoice for the auction in question, upon request.

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